JAMAICA. 



LIBRARY 



NEW YORK 



BULLETIN 7-„-- 



OF THE 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUPtE. 



Vol. IV. JANUARY, 1906. Part 1. 



HISTORICAL NOTES ON ECONOMIC PLANTS IN 



JAMAICA. 



VI. — Tea (continued.) 

 An article on tea appeared in the Bulletin for June and July, 

 1903. 



In order to bring the subject up to date the following para- 

 graphs by Hon. H. E. Cox are reprinted from Jamaica in 1905. 



" There are at present only two tea plantations in the western 

 hemisphere ; one at Summerville, South Carolina, U.S.A., and the 

 other at Ramble in St. Ann, Jamaica. 



"Varieties of the tea plant were introduced into Jamaica in 1868, 

 and were planted in the public gardens on the Blue Mountains, 

 some 4,900 feet above sea-level, where they grew well. Some 

 twenty years later a plantation of about 13 acres was formed in 

 the neighbourhood of the gardens at Cinchona, but the cultivation 

 was discontinued, and although the bushes are still growing well, 

 it has not yet been resumed. In 1896 the plantation at Ramble 

 in St. Ann was commenced. Its progress at first was very slow, 

 every step having to be tested by experiment. The soil being 

 different to that at Cinchona, the rainfall less than at that place, 

 and the elevation only 1,600 feet above sea-level, it was necessary 

 to commence by trying whether the plant would grow under the 

 altered conditions sufficiently well to make it worth while to incur 

 the great initial expense of forming a plantation. This test was 

 made with 250 plants and a packet of seed from the Cinchona 

 gardens. The result being favourable, the cultivation was 

 extended as plants or seed could be procured ; but the quantity 

 not being large, for several years only a small acreage could be 

 planted. Of course, seed could have been imported, but it was 

 decided not to do so for two reasons ; firstly, that the tea grown 

 might be homogeneous in character, and secondly, for fear of 



